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vuori / linux-minidisc

Free software for accessing MiniDisc devices (fork with NetMD fixes—use upstream for HiMD devices)
GNU General Public License v2.0
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Suddenly error connecting to device #4

Open brenthuisman opened 5 years ago

brenthuisman commented 5 years ago

After a day fiddling and recording a few disks, a few hours ago I kept consistently getting the following error when trying to use the netmdcli command:

$ ~/sync/code/linux-minidisc/netmdcli/netmdcli -v -t
Error opening netmd
Error while opening the USB device

On the MD unit the normal PC->MD message appears, but no command results in any other message, whereas a few hours ago that was no problem. I rebooted a few times, changed disks, turn the MD unit off and on, replugged many times, always the same result. I even left it off for an hour or so.

Is there possibly any state on the computer that interferes? Did I fry the unit?

vuori commented 5 years ago

No idea what could cause that and I haven't seen reports of such behavior elsewhere. libnetmd basically always starts from scratch. Perhaps the device has enqueued some operations in its non-volatile memory and is waiting for a command that libnetmd doesn't currently send.

Sony devices usually have some key combination that allows entering service mode, which might have a factory reset function.

brenthuisman commented 5 years ago

I tried setting up a Windows machine with Sonicstage, but that won't run after install. Not sure what can do more (factory reset seems rather complicated). Ah well, I guess I had to bury my MD at some point :/

vuori commented 5 years ago

That sounds pretty unfortunate. I recommend using 32-bit WIndows 7 (or even XP) for Sonicstage. I'll see if I can find where I stashed a patched version that should have less problems with modern Windows (i.e. 7, maybe even 8 or 10).

I have seen 64-bit drivers somewhere, but 32-bit is probably going to be a lot less pain.

brenthuisman commented 5 years ago

I managed to setup a vm with a 32bit Windows with Sonicstage. I can read discs with it, but any edits results in endless seeking activities of the disc, as if there's a hardware issue.

I guess the problem now is no longer related to this tool, but just a failing unit. Although Sonicstage does see the device and contents, and netmdcli no longer.

vuori commented 5 years ago

Slow or failing TOC commit does unfortunately sound like there might be a problem with the write mechanism. Sonicstage commits and retries a lot more aggressively than libnetmd which probably explains the seeking.

Since SS isn't working I don't have any more ideas unfortunately.